The right wing is simply amazed that the New York Times is bitterly condemning President Obama over the last week's domestic spying revelations. They have long assumed the Gray Lady was in bed with Obama, hiding or excusing his faults and inflating his achievements.

In expressing their wonderment, however, what conservatives actually reveal is their abject ignorance. It's another shining example of the epistemic closure I wrote about recently, in which right wingers live in their own information bubble stuffed with incorrect assumptions, falsehoods, distortions and lies.

They conclude that, because the Times isn't, say, Fox News, where virtually all coverage is tilted heavily to the right, it can't possibly be "objective".

I doubt few Cobb County conservatives bother reading the New York Times, so I can attest as a regular reader that Obama and his policies are routinely castigated or questioned by the Times' editorial and op-ed writers as well as in its White House coverage. Yet local conservatives are convinced - possibly because the newspaper is based in the Northeast - that the New York Times, one of the America's newspapers of record, is an unapologetic liberal rag that rolls over for Obama.

Realty check, please.

In the wake of 9-11, President Bush rushed to seize power, capitalizing on the fear and trepidation many of us felt after we watched the Twin Towers fall. The debate at the time, to the extent there was one at all, was that new, high tech tools were needed to fight international terrorism and we must unleash these against America's enemies.

We - you and me, friend - timidly allowed our elected representatives to ram through legislation like the Patriot Act that gives government busy bodies more, not less, power to intrude into our lives.

Now we're shocked these programs under Obama continue to cast a wide net, pulling in telephone and Internet communications records that can be used to zero in on, so we are told, suspicious traffic that could be terrorists...or might be just you or me chatting politics with friends, or visiting anti-government web sites, or reading about armed insurgencies.

Here's the thing: You allowed this to happen. So did I. As the comic strip character Pogo famously said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Do you want your security or do you want your freedom? Make up your mind.

@Nettie: Using Sandy Hook as an example of international terrorism is a colossal stretch. There was no communication between Adam Lanza with any outside entities in places like Pakistan involving the crime he committed. I don't believe it has be shown that Lanza spoke to anyone about his plans. If I am incorrect, I apologize in advance.

This sounds like another effort by you to put another controversy on President Obama's desk.

Lib in Cobb

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June 13, 2013

Thank you Kevin. I would like to have my security, but at what cost? I don't like the idea of any government looking into where I have been on the net, this is too close to coming into my house and looking around without a warrant. We as citizens have protections and rights under our legal system and those rights are being badly bruised right now.

As you well know, I am a strong Obama supporter and I would vote again for him, all six times, thank you ACORN. That said, I don't like this situation at all.

To the "wingers" out there, I only have a little to hide.

Nettie Helen Stemm

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June 13, 2013

Kevin, since this spying has been going on, we have had the Fort Hood shootings, Sandy Hook, Benghazi and the Boston Marathon bombing, just to name a few. Does that not give you a clue that this unconstitutional denial of our freedom from unlawful search and seizure, is not providing us with security? And it sure as hell is not providing us with privacy.

The big threat they claim, by name, to have stopped is the New York subway bombing. Unfortunabley,their claim does not hold water, since it was British authorities that alerted us to that threat. The Boston bombers sent numerous texts and Email messages. Didn't help.

There are those of us who saw this coming when the Patriot Act was a pipe dream. We fought it then and we are gonna fight it now.

The Obama administration has stretched the Patriot Act way out of shape.

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